It seemed like such a good idea: Will Smith plays a wino Superman. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air playing a wino Superman in a big summer blockbuster sounded like as much fun as opening up a big box and finding that it's full of fluffy puppies. The actual result? Like opening up that big box and finding out that all those fluffy puppies are dead.

We begin with a scene of children trying to wake Hancock (Smith) who's passed out on a bus bench. Trouble! Some Asian gangbangers are shooting an Uzi out the window of their SUV while driving real fast on the freeway. Hancock wakes up and seems to fly to the scene of the crime via special effects that look 15 years out of date. He stops the car full of Asians, but causes lots of property damage in the process. Everyone in this movie hates Hancock because he's a bum and not very good at being a superhero. Then he meets Ray (Jason Bateman), a PR guy who's not very good at being a PR guy. Ray decides to become Hancock's publicist and his wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), gives Smith strange looks.

Hancock cleans up his act, becomes a true superhero and then -- wait a minute. We're only halfway through the movie? Is this it? No... Without giving too much away, there's a twist, and then some Anne Rice stuff about immortals, and gods and goth romance. But it all ends with Hancock painting a giant heart on the side of the moon.

The phenomenal success of The Producers, Mel Brooks' first foray onto the Great White Way, was followed late last year by (the less rapturously received) Young Frankenstein. With so many of Brooks' films graced by hilarious -- and catchy -- musical numbers, it's tough to choose the one that would best make the transition to Broadway.

Brooks has always been a musical theater fan. A few days before "The Producers" opened, he reminisced in the New York Times about his lifelong devotion to Broadway musicals, and discussed how he was encouraged to write his own songs for that first smash hit. There's no reason why his third outing couldn't have the impact of his first. He told the New York Post that he's "mulling a final bow (or two) on Broadway" and rumors point to Blazing Saddles. But could History of the World: Part 1 work as well?